JORDANIAN F-16 CRASHES, PILOT KILLED

A Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 fighter plane crashed during takeoff for technical malfunction. The pilot died in the crash.

Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 - Photo credit: f-16.net

Dec.5 – A Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 fighter plane crashed during takeoff. The aircraft came down for a technical malfunction. The pilot died in the crash.
A Royal Jordanian Air Force F-16 crashed at 13.10 local time (10.10 GMT) in Azraq Monday after take-off during a training mission.
A "technical failure" was blamed for the crash and its pilot, Maj. Ayed Ahmad al-De'ajah , died in the crash, according to an official Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army statement.
It’s not the fist time that RJAF lost a US made fighter jet during a training mission. At least five F-16s have crashed in Jordan during recent years. In all the crashes, the air force said it suspected technical faults.

A sixth F-16 fighter jet was lost during a mission over Syria two yers ago. The pilot was captured by Islamic State extremists who later burned him to death while he was trapped in a cage.
Jordan is part of the US-led coalition of Arab and Western countries carrying out air strikes against Daesh, which controls parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria.
Jordan has a fleet of about 50 F-16A/B fighters. Most of the fighters were supplied by the United States.

In 2007, Jordan concluded deals for more than a dozen F-16s with Belgium and the Netherlands. Unlike the U.S. surplus aircraft, the European F-16s had undergone a mid-life upgrade by Lockheed Martin.